Providing Holistic Care to Vulnerable Moms

Eastern Europe Connection

Russia

THE CHALLENGE:

When an orphaned child becomes pregnant, they are thrown into starting a family without much guidance or a model of how healthy families operate. doma seeks to be a part of the lives of these young families, supporting and encouraging them as they seek to create ‘home’.

THE doma SOLUTION:

Support Vulnerable Mothers as they raise their infants and toddlers…

Doma’s Bloom! Programs

In Eastern Europe, Doma’s Bloom! programs for vulnerable women support moms who graduated from orphanages and boarding schools, as well as moms who are at risk for abandoning their infants. We support 30 moms in St. Petersburg and in Kostroma.

This support includes:

• food
• clothing
• critical items for infants
• instruction in parenting
• career-building
• conflict-management,
• and at times, housing

Doma provides individual and group counseling through social workers, counselors, and mentors.

Thank you for your continued efforts with our Bloom! programming in Russia. This support is crucial to prevent young mothers from abandoning their children to orphanages. Your efforts are making a huge difference in the lives of these amazing women and children!

One young woman from the program wrote:

“Thank you for your words of encouragement and inspiration. Thank you for your love and care for the kids here, and for giving up your time for this trip (to Russia). I appreciate this. Your coming here was a great blessing to me. You were able to encourage me and give me strength to go on. I pray that God would open up the doors for you to come back.”

In a six-month period in St. Petersburg, 20 to 25 moms, each with one child, were helped with seminars on topics like feeding and clothing children, how to help children understand “no”, and how to potty train. The moms in this program always have many questions after seminars, and a director of the program states that “the moms and their kids are loosening up and are starting to express publicly more of their opinions and are starting to specify more and more of their questions.”

Luba, the Bloom! Program Manager in St. Petersburg adds, “This makes me happy because you can see the change in their faces and hearts and you can see it in how they relate to their kids. Thank you so much for choosing to support vulnerable mothers.”

This spring, three of the moms and their children renewed their relationships with their husbands/fathers. These men also experienced positive changes because of the encouragement surrounding them.

Doma also helps the moms, many of whom had terribly traumatic childhoods, with wounds that have never healed. For many, Doma’s work is their first opportunity to explore their faith as they return to wholeness.

To balance out this hard work, Doma provides fun classes, swimming, and camps, to give the moms and their children times to relax and enjoy themselves. In 2011, doma is hosting a summer camp for foster children and vulnerable moms in Kostroma.

Currently, doma is supporting the purchase of a retreat home near Kostroma. The Kostroma Dacha is a solid building but will need interior reconstruction to accommodate more people. This project could be a great ConnectionPoint for churches or groups. There will be trainings, service projects, and gatherings, as the Dacha will serve as a type of ministry center. Much potential rests in this project; support to purchase and rebuild, and support in programming are all necessary.

YOUR CONNECTION:

DONATE:

These courageous young moms have asked for help in caring for their infants and toddlers. Support these young moms by visiting, writing encouraging letters, and through monthly financial contributions toward the professional program in which they are enrolled. It costs doma $184 per month for each woman who benefits from our Russia Bloom! efforts. Consider committing monthly support toward Bloom! Or host a fundraiser with a group of people to raise the support necessary for one or two women for the entire year!

VOLUNTEER:

doma International operates Young Mother programs and hosts retreats in St. Petersburg and remote areas in Russia for orphaned girls who are now new moms. Travel with a Vision Team of leaders, pastors, activists, parents, and business persons who share your interest in Eastern Europe, service, orphaned children, and vulnerable women. See real needs first hand and meet these needs in simple and immediate ways. Build relationships with Russians and come away with life-long friends. You will have the opportunity to give to this and other projects, as well as come home inspired and informed to connect your families, churches, businesses, and communities to the adventure of generosity and compassion on behalf of orphaned children and vulnerable women.